2025-10-16 BBI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to The Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
on a Thursday edition of our program. This is a
brand news show. We were off last night. We presented
the best of The Big Blue Insider, and some of
you complain about that to me, and I actually appreciate
that because we want you to to anticipate a new
show every night. But there are some nights either I'm

(00:21):
on vacation or as it was yesterday, I had another
about with the skin cancer, a little bit of surgery,
nothing serious. But that's the whole point to all of
this is get to it before it gets serious. And
as I said during the recording of the show last night,
as I posted more than once, get yourself checked out.
This was my third instance in the last six months.

(00:44):
And the reason I pre record the shows during the
early part of the day. I've told you about that before,
because there aren't enough people in the building at night,
so many people have been laid off that we can't
do the show live except for the nights when the
Coaches shows are happening, So we pre record and I
go in for surgery at seven to forty five am

(01:05):
each time, and they tell you to be prepared to
be there all day. Reason for that is they take
whatever is on you, they take it off, then they
study it, they send it to the lab to pathology,
and if it takes more surgery, then that's what they do.
And that happened to me two of the three times. Now,

(01:26):
yesterday they sent me home fairly early. But you know
I didn't have anything set up to do a live show. Obviously,
I have to prepare in a couple of days prior
so anyway, that's why we do the best of on
those days Fingers crossed. That's the last time I will
have to prepare a show like that because of needing

(01:47):
that kind of surgery. But back to why I was there.
What basils sell what they call many of you have
heard of that. It is not when they first spot
it super serious, but it can get that way fairly quickly.
And the most amazing thing to me was the fact
that on one of the instances, I couldn't even see it.

(02:08):
They showed it to me with a mirror. They see
right here in your forehead, No, what are you looking at?
But the doctor saw it and the nurse saw it,
and that's why I wound up with stitches on my forehead.
So anyhow, we appreciate your patience, your indulgence, and again
we are back in the chair tonight. We'll talk football, basketball, baseball.

(02:30):
We are going to we slid our Wednesday once again,
our Wednesday schedule one day, so we'll have unforgettable guard
Sean Woods talking more about basketball. That's more and more
in the news. We're gonna be talking about that in
a minute, because the NBA has started up again with exhibitions.
Obviously college exhibitions are already underway. We've had since you
and I spoke. Mark Pope talked to the media down

(02:53):
at SEC Basketball Days in Birmingham, and Kenny Brooks did
as well. And we're also going to talk with our
West NBA chief Gary Moore Hill join us as well.
So basically we tell the Wednesday guys just take Wednesday
off and join us on Thursday. So Mark Pope in
addressing the media, one of the first questions was about

(03:15):
Otaga Oway, the preseason SEC Player of the Year. He
was first team All Conference. Obviously, no other wildcad made
first or second team. Jalen Lowe, the point guard transfer
from Pittsburgh, made third team preseason. None of this matters.
We know this, but it's fun to talk about. But
Mark Pope talks about Otega Ohway and the fact that

(03:38):
he has been out now for really two and a
half months, but finally got back to practice and when
he went crazy with the basketball, Pope and his assistants
they couldn't believe their eyes.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
He got a steal and raced down the floor and
took off from outside the free throw line and dunked it.
And as he did it, as a coach, you just
shake your head and be like young people. We love
these young people. Otake as a guy where you just
cannot turn off his competitive motor. And so he's been
through this. He understands it. He knows what he's in for.
He understands the pressure of the moment. He understands everything

(04:11):
that Kentucky is. He embraces it. He can't get enough
of it. And so I don't have a lot of
concerns about him. Just you know, obviously we liked all
of our guys to stay healthy.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I saw a little back and forth on Twitter between
a couple of people, and the first person kind of
scoffed at Ohway dismissed him as a role player. Last
year and now he's supposed to be the preseason player
of the Year, and of course Kentucky fans fired back
at him, but it doesn't matter what he was last year.
But here's the other thing too, They were all role

(04:43):
players last year for Kentucky. That's just the way that
year shook out. That's the way that roster shook out.
And keep in mind, otega Oway was supposed to be
a complimentary piece to Jackson Robinson. That was the guy.
Remember we were all talking preseason about the fact that
Robinson out all kinds of potential and we thought he

(05:04):
could be the guy, the big shot maker when they
needed it. And remember early in the year, Robinson his
game was lagging a little bit, and you know, he
had a chat with Mark Pope and basically just allowed
himself to become the kind of player they needed him
to be. He quit thinking and worrying and just went
out and played and was terrific. And then he got
hurt and that was that. So what happens, Well, next

(05:26):
man up, who does Kentucky look to in the rotation?
Wells otago Oway and other guys were dealing with injuries.
You know, Andrew Carr deal with injuries. Lord knows, Lamont
Butler did as well, and Kentucky had to lean on
Otago o hes whoever called him a role player? Yeah,
but his role down the stretch was get the big
shot when the Wildcats needed it, and he did it

(05:49):
on more than one occasion, including those two games against Oklahoma.
But again, all this discussion is just fun. Really, it
couldn't get a little nasty, but it's fun. And Otago
I don't know if he'll be the Player of the Year.
It may be difficult for him because Kentucky's got a
lot of firepower, There's no question about that. And generally
the player of the year is a guy who in

(06:10):
part carries his team. Oh wait, won't have to carry
this team. But I do think he'll be the big
shot guy if and when the Wildcats needed. But I
think Kentucky will score more out of its defense this
year than it did last year, and that will enable
other guys like di Abate and Aberdeen, two of the
new guys, to really show what they have. And of

(06:31):
course Jaln Lowe will have a lot to say about
how all this stuff plays out. Sol Jadan Quinton's when
he gets back and somebody asked Pope about the big man.
He's the guy from Arizona State was coming to Kentucky
and then Caliperio left, so he pulled his commitment. When
to Asu got hurt twenty four games into the season,

(06:51):
blew in acl and there was a question put to
Pope about whether or not they thought about just let
him stay out the whole season and be for certain
one hundred percent next year, but Pope kind of shut
that down.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
He is racing back to health at light speed right now.
It is remarkable what he's doing. We're all kind of
shaking our heads and feeling like, how is this humanly possible?
He feels like he's, you know, on the verge of
being ready to go, and we're we're just hitting the
brakes full time right now to make sure because his
future is is going to be incredibly bright in this game.

(07:29):
But you know, I don't you know, I'm not sure
exactly how long the way it is, but I don't
think there's a chance we could keep him from playing
this season. I think he's too excited, too talented, work
too hard to get back. He's going to be really special.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
I did not get to madness a lot of you
tuned it in on SEC Plus and one of the
guests that Mark Pope invited was Tubby Smith. And Tubby's
been back in town a few times, and he's making
noises about moving back here. I've heard that for several
months that he just hasn't yet decided to pull the trigger.
Moving can be rather daunting, but as you know, you know,

(08:06):
packing up and moving, even if it can afford to
have someone do it for you, is still daunting. But
you could tell from his conversation with Maggie Davis or
BV and tonight how much he loved this place and
is thinking seriously about becoming a citizen once again. He
and Donna of Lexington.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Just being a part of the culture as I mentioned before,
and basketball is a way of life. There's no other
place in America, no other basketball program that compares to
Kentucky basketball.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
So he always.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Excited to be coming here. And I have a lot
of friends still, thank god, still have some friends here.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Which he does, and occasionally you can find him with Wheelers,
especially when Tubby is in town. One of the Wildcats
who was at Madness last year but of course not
this year. Travis Perry is now an oll Miss rebel,
which I thought was kind of an odd fit, and
he signed. But Chris Beard, speaking in media Day, talked
about Perry and talked about the fact that when he

(09:07):
got the Old Miss job, he kind of re recruited Travis.
He had tried to recruit him before and reached out
to him again when he saw that he was in
the portal and obviously thinks the world of him.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
He's one of the first prospects I talked to literally
a couple of days after getting the Old Miss job
a couple of years ago, so on the entry level
of our relationship. Had great respect for Travis. Son of
a coach, not only a coach, a championship coach. His
dad is a great basketball mind some body have always
enjoyed talking basketball with. Comes from a sports family with

(09:40):
mom and sisters and a younger brother. Obviously, the accolades
at Travis accomplished in high school, most notably winning a
state championship at a school that had never done that before.
Obviously got a coach against Travis last year in the
SEC and thought he had a good year. I think
a lot of times people associated good year as a
freshman in college basketball is the special unicorn kind of

(10:04):
one and done guy. But Travis was one of just
a handful of freshmen along with guys like Klaffkey on
our team that was really in the rotation for Kentucky
all year. So currently Travis is doing well. I'm on
the record, and I'll never get tired of saying it.
In my personal opinion, I can only speak for myself,
Travis is more than a shooter. Shooter does not define

(10:27):
what he can do on the court today, and certainly
what he will be able to do is he continues
to grow as a player, still a young sophomore in
our league, but we have a major impact role for Travis.
We need him to have the best year he's ever
had playing basketball for our team.

Speaker 5 (10:42):
To do what we would all like to do. In Oxford, I.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Cannot but wonder what is the next stop for Chris
Beer because, with all due respect to Ole, miss And
you can win there, We've seen that, But can you
win consistently? Maybe he can, but you think about where
he's been in Lubbock, Texas and now in Oxford, Mississippi.
But given what the nil has done, given what the

(11:06):
portal has done, all these stops now even Lexingon can
be looked at as kind of an outpost. You know,
what is the next stop for player AA, B or C.
Question is can you recruit new players freshmen to Oxford
the way Mark Pope can recruit players to Lexington. That's
one of the many things that sets UK apart, and

(11:28):
I think we will see more and more of this
from Pope. I think you'll see highly rated recruiting classes,
which mean he won't have to lean so much on
the portal, probably as much as a Chris Beard does.
But it's going to play out here over the next
few years. Why don't we just enjoy it while it's
here in front of us. And of course you've got
the UK exhibition game coming up tomorrow night at Memorial Coliseum,

(11:53):
Historic Memorial Coliseum. We'll talk more basketball and football on
the other side of the break here on six thirty
WLAP Welcome Back. Coming up at the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk with Mike Harge, who has joined
us before on the show. He is an Austin, Texas
radio personality. He does a morning drive sports show with

(12:13):
a guy who was a former pro wrestler, Mark Henry.
But some of you. WWE fans might recognize him. He's
a wrestling Hall of Famer, but prior to that was
an Olympic Champion caliber weightlifter. He's a huge human being now.
Mike is a former minor league baseball pitcher. He was

(12:33):
drafted in the second round by the Montreal Expos, but
his injury injuries curtailed his career. He went into radio,
very good at it, and I met Mark at SEC
media day. He somehow recognized me. I don't know how,
but he approached me and we shook hands and got
to talking and agreed to come on each other's shows.

(12:54):
I ran into a mic at the round robin baseball
event outside of Austin the following spring. So Mike's gonna
join us coming up, and we'll talk about the Longhorns
who were catching a lot of flak. Now it's different
flack than what Mark Tubes and his guys have been catching,

(13:14):
because well, Texas has been winning air quotes, but not
the way Longhorn fans expected them to win up until now.
They lost the opener to Ohio State arch Manning was
not a superstar that day. He hasn't been a superstar
since then. We'll talk about that in a minute. But
then they lost to the Florida Gators two weeks ago,

(13:36):
three weeks ago, I guess, which was a bit of
a surprise to me and everybody in whatever they call it,
burn Orange Nation, Longhorn Nation, those of us who have
followed Florida this year were amazed by that. And conversely,
I was amazed Texas beat Oklahoma. And yes, I know,
Oklahoma's quarterback John Matier had a broken hand, came back
from surgery after seventeen days. Through three picks, Texas turned

(13:59):
them into points, but it was the overall Texas defense
that got it done. And Steve Serkesian, the head coach
for the long Wards, got a little salty when he
talked about how his team rallied at the Red River
rivalry pulled out the wind, and he specifically talked about

(14:19):
the defense.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
Well, I think that we learned how to fight today,
and I think that, you know, we don't have to
wait till the twelfth round to try to knock somebody
out to win a game. We can win rounds and
we can continue to fight for four quarters. And like
I said, I think we saw the true character of

(14:41):
the men in that locker room today, their connectivity, their
love for one another. You heard these two guys just
say it, staying connected, continuing to grind with one another
because it's easy to succumb to the outside noise. And
there was a lot of getting talked about our team
and about these guys, and I think they responded, yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
And I'm watching that game, and you may have as
well thought, oh my, right, just in time for Kentucky,
they figure things out. I thought maybe they were going
in the wrong direction and they were in Gainesville, but
they figured it out. And now they're going to come
into election and full of confidence when they take on
a Kentucky team that's coming in off a bye week.
And I know Mark stoops after a bye the record's

(15:22):
not good, but why because they play a difficult schedule
and look at this. They come off a bye and
they play Texas. Texas is favored by two touchdowns or
more and has tons of good players. Although Kentucky played
them competitively last year down in Austin, didn't have enough
to win. Maybe they will on Saturday. The defense is

(15:44):
going to have to figure out a way to deal
with Arch Manning. That starts with a coordinator Brad White,
who has been impressed with what he has seen when.

Speaker 7 (15:51):
The young guy, I think he's handled it great. You know,
he's taken some big hits, he's extended plays with his legs,
he gets up. You know, he's made some really big
time throws. Obviously the arm strength and uh there there's
no issues there that. I think one of the big
plays in that Ou game, you know, when they're backed
up and he hits that that seven cut on the sideline,

(16:13):
I mean that that's a pro level throw. And so no,
we we understand that the huge challenge that he presents,
uh you know in that whole offense, you know, with
the speed they have it wide out and the talent
in the backfield and uh you know, uh five at
a huge game out of the backfield, Uh, you know

(16:35):
in Ou makes big runs, big catches. Uh you know,
the tight ends get involved. So you know, everybody at
every level of the defense has to be on on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Well, he's right in both ways. The defense has to
be I can't say perfect, nobody is, but can't make
any huge mistakes because Texas will test the Wildcats on
the deep ball and our manning his handle things well,
there's no question about that. So I want to run
one more basketball sound by Pasta. This was Devin Booker

(17:10):
right after the Suns beat the Utah Jazz and Oscar
Sheboy in an exhibition and the fans loved Devin Booker
and they showed him and it reminded him of something important.

Speaker 8 (17:22):
The energy was off the tarts. You know, I sat
it walking off the court. You know, I haven't heard
that type of love in a very long time, probably
since my college Kentucky days, you know. So I think
it was important for us, the NBA to get back
over here, you know, get on your guys' homeland, and
you know, you guys showed the love that you know

(17:44):
we expected, but you know it was a whole other level.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
How about that. Devin Booker said the energy from the
Phoenix Suns fans rivaled what he felt at Kentucky. It's amazing.
Even the guys who played for one year, how many
times they come back to their days at Kentucky. And
that's because of the BBN, no question, that's what brought
John Wall back to madness. He said, Calipari was my coach,

(18:10):
but Kentucky is and will always be his school. My
Carge of Austin Radio. Next six thirty eight WLAP Welcome
back to the Big Blue and Sider. We're joined now
in our celebrity hotline by a guy I met at
SEC Media Days a couple of years ago down in Dallas.
He is my Carge radio personality from Austin, Texas, of
course covers the Longhorns. Mike, glad to have you back.

(18:33):
What's it been like down there with a team that
was expect much was expected as usual with a superstar
young quarterback, and your season's had some ups and downs.

Speaker 9 (18:44):
That's exactly it right there, first and foremost, thanks for
having me on again. I always enjoy catching up with
you about the SEC about everything that's going on as well.
But you're right, this has been an up and down year.
My expectations coming into the season all you know, not
warranted by the University of Texas, but when you had

(19:05):
the season that you had, you have Arch Manning as
your starting quarterback coming into the season, a lot of
people thought that this was going to go smooth sailing well.
As you always know, at the beginning of the year,
you play a team that is now the number one
team of in college football, and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
You stub your toe a little bit, but you're still

(19:27):
in the ball game. Then you have some non conference
games and you kind of run through those, and then
you get punched in the face in Florida and then
people start second guessing you. But then you go to
the Red River Rivalry, which we all here in Austin,
Texas thought the timing of the Red River Rivalry was

(19:47):
more perfect than any because a team that loses a
game that was expected to win, they got to get
focused to play a rival. So the timing of that
matchup was perfect. But now you got to go to Lexington,
a team that's kind of struggled in Kentucky, and now
you have to find out how mature your football team
is to handle the successes but also stay focused enough

(20:11):
to stay with the mission. That's a hand.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Well, there's a lot to unpack, as you kids like
to say, So let me start with that Florida loss.
And you know, I was amazed at the way Florida played.
I was amazed at the way Texas played. But it's
always tough on the road, as we know in the SEC.
But as you said, bouncing back in that Red River,
and having worked two years in the old Southwest Conference,

(20:35):
I know exactly what that rivalry is like. I know
what it's like in downtown Dallas the night before I
got trapped in traffic there my first year and will
never be devastake again. But what impressed you, Mike about
the way you kind of answered it already, But the
way Texas bounced back against ou.

Speaker 9 (20:55):
Oh, they look like a team that understood themmbarrassment of
that Florida loss. And when I say embarrassment, obviously it's
the SEC. All these teams are capable of doing great things,
but they were going into a place that they hadn't
been before, and you didn't know how mature the team is.
I mentioned that a second ago, and the reason why

(21:17):
is because Texas over the last couple of years they've
had twenty five guys go into the NFL. Then you
look at it and you got to replace your offensive line.
You have to replace your starting quarterback, who a lot
of people were hesitant about anyway. But I was a
big fan of Queen Yours because I understood what the
kid was going through and what he was able to accomplish.

(21:38):
Then you look on the defensive side, and you're like, Okay,
you lost the Thorpe Award winner, you lost some other
guys in the secondary. Well, then you go there and
you have to understand, will my team mature? Arch Manning
got his behind kicked in that game against Florida, but
he answered the call, he kept getting up, he stayed

(22:00):
in there. He was tough, and I think that helped
galvanize this team because here's the guy that had a
lot of expectations on him coming into the season, had
a tough go but found a way to kept that
game close too. I talked about the lost to Ohio
State fourteen to seven. You look at that game, they
had a possession that if they were able to go

(22:20):
down and go for two, they could have tied the
ballgame and we might have a different conversation. But now
this is a team that had to grow up and
show that, hey, we are in it for the long
haul and let's see what happens moving forward.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
You know what has impressed me the most about arch
Manning and has little to do with what's on the field.
Indirectly it does, but preseason, when all the prognosticators were
heaping these accolades on this kid and he said, you know,
I haven't really done anything yet. I'm paraphrasing, but that's
basically was his message. That is a terribly mature approach,

(22:57):
and not a lot of kids would have said that. Yeah,
and I know he's got a famous dad, famous uncle's,
famous grandfather, so I'm guessing he's a bit mature for
his age. But I really really appreciated that, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 9 (23:13):
Yeah, absolutely, And that is something that we've been pounding
the table about, is the humility in which he carries
himself in. You go back and you listen to some
of those past interviews, you're one hundred percent right. You're
not paraphrasing. You got to quote correct, I haven't done
anything yet. It is one of those things that he

(23:33):
understands his last name, but he also understands what the
crown it is that you got to wear on your
head as a manning. But to say that this kid
is mature, you are one hundred percent correct. He's always
got a nice time for the fans and all the people.
He goes to the community. He goes to Dale's Children's

(23:54):
Hospital here in Austin, Texas and gives out backpacks and
things like that. And that was after a los So
just imagine what it's like when he does finally get
to understand what it's like to play quarterback at the
University of Texas and end the spotlight that the nation

(24:15):
carried and be able to uphold your end of that deal.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Talking to Mike carg Is in Austin, Texas radio personality
covers the Longhorns, Mike a former pro athlete himself. I'm
going to double back to that in a minute. But
I got a chance, of course, as the sideline reporter
to cover Kentucky Texas last year in Austin. I had
been to Austin a few times, but never for a ballgame.
And I got to tell you, man, that was a

(24:40):
great experience. At my picture taken with Bevo like every other.

Speaker 9 (24:44):
Dot down there.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
But you got to do that, man, you got to
do that. But so impressive. And I know it wasn't
a huge game. It's not like A and M coming
to town or Oklahoma in Dallas or whatever. But you
got a real flavor of Texas football tradition, and it's
easy to draw that parallel to Kentucky basketball tradition, good
or bad. And one of the things that's really trying

(25:08):
is the fact that everything is magnified, Mike, Everything's blown
out of proportion. I gotta think that was the case
even after the Ohio State loss. That's the number one
team in America, but especially after the Florida loss. Can
I assume it was pretty bad?

Speaker 9 (25:25):
Well? Yeah, absolutely, And that's why you saw it fired
up the Sarkesian after though victory against Oklahoma. He used
an expletive during that conversation because he said that the
national media and even some of the local media was
talking a lot of bleep about his team, and these
guys had to block it out. And as I continue

(25:46):
to say, and I said every single day on our
show on the Morning Kickoff, I say, listen, the way
that the team was performing at those times warranted those
conversations because they were at a I don't want to
say they were at a tipping point at this Red
River rivalry matchup. Yeah, but it was one of those

(26:07):
that the record going into this game against Kentucky. Then
you have to look at the rest of the season,
of all the matchups that you're going to have to play.
They've been gone the entire month of October. They will
not play a home game. They played all at home
in September except for Ohio State. They are on the

(26:29):
road all the way until November. The first one they
played Vanderbilt at home. Wow, that is tough. That is
a tough road to hope, which is why looking at
that game last week, it was imperative for them to
win that ball game heading into this tough stretch in
which they're going to have to play.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
And Dallas is only four hours away from Austin, but
you're not sleeping in your own bed. You know, you're
out of the routine. And I think people when we
talk about because Kentucky had a similar stretch there games
and yeah, you're home practicing and going to class, but
the schedule is sped up. And Friday when you're on
the road, of course, is not anything like a home Friday.

(27:12):
And you're getting on the bus, you're getting to the airport,
blah blah blah. You know, it's just different, and you're
sleeping in the hotel. You have an entirely different routine.
But on the other hand, players like to tell us,
I'm sure they tell you the same thing. On the road,
you get a chance to be a little tighter, to
pull together a little bit more, and that counts for
a lot, doesn't it.

Speaker 9 (27:33):
Absolutely. That's when you get to learn a lot about
your teammates. You're spending a little bit more time in
the meetings together, you're going to the movies, you're sitting
around playing cards and doing different things. So you're learning
a lot about each other. And this also gives the
coaches a little bit more time to see what the
guys are doing as opposed to going to their offices

(27:56):
and being away from everybody. Everybody always says you go
on the road as a team, that's when you really
start those bonds. Well, Texas for a months is going
to get a chance to do those bonds.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
We're talking with Mike Carge. He is a radio personality
from Austin, Texas, covers the Longhorns and we'll come back
and chat more football with Mike on the other side
of the break here on six thirty WLAP. We're talking
to Mike Carge. He has a radio personality from Austin,
Texas and a former pro athlete himself was a pitcher
and it was ten years in the minors in injuries.

(28:30):
I know short circuited your career, but you live that life, Mike,
and you know what it's like to be in the
spotlight and to have expectations placed upon you, not unlike
Arch Manning and a lot of other athletes playing for
UT as well as around the SEC. What kind of
insight does that give you on your radio show when

(28:51):
you're giving your opinion or maybe even not given your opinion.

Speaker 9 (28:55):
Well, the one thing about it as I always put
myself in the player's shoes, like the emotions of it,
all situations that happened, and how do you handle some
of these events that do go down? And always try
to take it back to when you're struggling, who has
your back? Who has Who's somebody that you can turn

(29:17):
to to get you kind of out of this funk,
to give you that opportunity to voice your opinion with
no judgment, And that is kind of what this is
all about for these players. Yeah, they were being judged,
They were looked that kind of funny and and oh
my gods, you see all the national pundits talking about
textas overrated, Well, y'all are the ones who voted them there.

(29:41):
Texas was number one team by vote, not its pre season,
and that's why a lot of times. People always say,
don't look at this, and as you know, sounds kind
of coach speaks, But those preseason polls never matter because
of the fact it's been very difficult to go wired
to as the number one team in the land. There's

(30:02):
teams that have come from not being ranked to playing
for national championships. It happens. And now in college athletics
there's no dominant teams anymore because there's so much parody
with the nil situation. So if it was my druthers,
I would say, no preseason polls. Let the teams go

(30:23):
ahead and play, and then after week three four then
you could start throwing together the polls.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
I'm with you on that one hundred percent. But I
went back and looked, and you know, people like to say, well,
they're just doing that to sell papers, and I know
that's an antiquated, outdated expression, but that was literally the
case why the Associated Press invented those preseason polls because
it drove readership. It drove people to bides to spend

(30:50):
a dime or whatever it was back in the day
to pick up the newspaper and see who's ranked number one,
who's ranked what, who should have been ranked? But it's
kind of outlived. It's useful, hasn't it.

Speaker 9 (31:01):
Well, it's great for radio June. You can always have
the arguments. You can always have the arguments. But yeah,
I think it has done that because you've heard more
coaches speak out against it because they're like, everybody's got
new teams. What they were last year is not the
same team that they're going to be this year. A
lot of players come and go, and there's a lot

(31:24):
of changes, as I said, with the nil and the
transfer porters, and there's just so much happening that it's
not the same college football that we saw in those
days where you said, we can go buy it in
the newspaper. Heck, everybody's not even buying newspapers looking online,
so you're still getting these opportunities. But it is fun

(31:47):
for the fan bases because it gets everybody excited. It's
good for the odds makers because we know that that
is always going to be a big business because they
know those Texas Longhorn fancy and their team number one
or run in the place there that's right, dollar bet
on what's going on to try to see what their
return is. But it is to the point where It's

(32:09):
like there's a lot of pressure on all these kids
and the coaches. As we've seen, you don't get off
to a good start, you could end up losing your job.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Talking to my Carge, he is a radio personality from Austin,
Texas and a guy, as I said, is a former
pro baseball player as well, teams up with Mark Henry
on the morning kickoff. I'm gonna ask you about him
in just a minute, but before I do that, just
tell me what kind of game you expect on Saturday.

Speaker 9 (32:34):
I expect the Texas Longhorns to go out and try
to establish the run. Last week, Trey Wisner, who was
coming back from an injury, he controlled the game with
his legs, going for ninety four yards. Hard fought yard.
But that also helped Arch Manning because if Arch doesn't
have a running game around him, everybody can pin their

(32:55):
ears back. No play action, you could just try to
attack the quarterback defensively. I expect Texas's defense to show
what they showed last week. I mean that was probably
the most complete game for this Texas football team that
I've seen all season long. When I said the run
a game, Arts was efficient for twenty one up twenty

(33:17):
seven four one hundred and sixty six yards. You look
at what the defense was able to do, controlling the
line of scrimmage and forcing three turnovers. But they finally
got the special teams to have the pop that they've
been looking for. They've been kind of kind of weak
in the special teams area by not by certain standards,

(33:38):
but by Texas's standards. The first couple of years, I
think you remember, Texas was getting pump blocks, they had
big kick returns, and they were having good PUBB returns.
Well that's been gone until last week, and hopefully they
will have the momentum carrying over from last week's game.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Yeah, I'm a big fan of Jimmy's and Joes versus
x'es and o's, and I think Texas has more Jimmy's
and joe's. But you can force those guys to make
mistakes the way Texas was, then you got a shot
if you're a team like Kentucky. Just a few minutes
slept with my cards, I got to ask you about
Mark Henry. This guy was an Olympic level weightlifter and
I think went on to play or to be a

(34:16):
pro wrestler with a WWE sixty three three sixty. I think,
what is it like hosting the show with a guy
like that.

Speaker 9 (34:26):
Well, I gotta be very careful when I think I
think the World's Strongest Man gets a little upset. No,
he is a He is a great, great co host.
He came on with me about a year ago. He
came and talked to me one day and asked if
I if I had room for him, and I was like, absolutely.

(34:47):
He's a gentle giant. He understands sports on so many
different levels. He's got a son, Jacob Henry, who is
an Oklahoma football player, so we had a love with that.
We had a lot of fun with that last week.
And he's just a guy with a great personality that
people just really really enjoy listening to. Obviously, he's a

(35:11):
Hall of Famer in the WWE, and as you mentioned,
he was recognized as the World's Strongest Man for a
long time. So it has been a lot of fun
getting to know Mark, well, letting the people know Mark,
because I've known Mark for over twenty years. But you
start to understand that there's more than just the wrestling

(35:32):
and just the weightlifting. This is a guy that really
understands sports on so many different levels.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Are your nickname is hardball hards? Do you play hardball
with him?

Speaker 9 (35:42):
I always play hardball with We have some of the
greatest debates and arguments. Like people will send us text
messages and they're like, are y'all seeing for real? Are
y'all really mad? Ain't? It's like, no, we are going
at it because he thinks he's right, and I tell
him he's wrong all the time.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, that's good radio, though, man, that's really good radio.
I work with a friend who for a few years
whose dad said you're not being very respectful to mister Gabriellen,
And I said, no, dad, it's all in good fun.
I'll let you go with this Texas. And next time
I have you on, we got to talk basketball and
baseball and volleyball because UT has a great volleyball program.

(36:24):
But how is life in the SEC for you folks
down in the lone Star state where I lived.

Speaker 9 (36:30):
For a couple of years, It's been outstanding to be
perfectly honest with you for a long time. Being on
the outside SEC, it just means more, this is where
you want to be. All the top action is here,
and you're like wow, whatever, wait till you get to
this game. But now being in it and seeing it
day in and day out and understanding the passion from

(36:51):
all of the fan bases and what it all entails,
and you mentioned that, you start looking at all the
sports across the board and voting the Olympic sports, you
start to understand that it truly does just mean more
and everybody is passionate about everything about it. And you've
got to enjoy because you get a chance to go

(37:13):
to different cities that were never part of your tour.
Now you get to go to a Lexington, you get
to go into Starkville. Mississippi baseball teams did a great
job over the last two seasons, especially last year, being
able to go in and win the SEC basketball. Women's
basketball is outstanding, men's basketball. We got new coaches all

(37:36):
over the place, Kentucky last year bringing back Pope. I mean,
this is what it's all about, and if you're a fan,
you gotta love it.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
By the way, Kentucky has three players on its volleyball
roster from Texas, including the three time defending Freshmen of
the Week, the center Cassie O'Brien. So many great athletes
in the state of Texas. You're not making a trip,
are you. You're gonna be here.

Speaker 9 (38:01):
I'm not gonna make the trip. I'm not gonna make
the trip. Oh yeah, we are looking to come to
for basketball or maybe even baseball.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
All right, that sounds good, but remember check the calendar
next time Texas comes to town. If Keenland's running, you
got to make that trip and do the double dip
of the racetrack and the football game.

Speaker 9 (38:21):
That's what everybody keeps telling me. And I know a
lot of Longhorn fans are making that trip today. Yes,
for those reasons.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
That's good. Well, give my best to mister craig Way,
to Playboy play Man. I will see him on Saturday.
But he was actually I think he was at your
station KVET Radio when I was down in Dallas. He
wasn't the Playboy play voice yet. That was Ron Franklin.
But he's been around UT football for a long time,
hasn't he.

Speaker 9 (38:46):
Yes, he has the voice of the Texas Longhord, the man,
the myths, the legend. Mister craig Way, he does all sports.
Always tell him he's the hardest working man in sports,
and he said, well, I don't want to sit still
because you never know what happens.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
And the great thing is all the sports he covers,
they all do well. So he is Mike Cargs, Mike
Hardball Harge. And how can people listen to you? Can
they pull you up on spreaker dot com they.

Speaker 9 (39:14):
Can get they can go to spreaker and you can
get our podcast over there, or you can always download
the free iHeartRadio app. Look for the morning kickoff with
myself the world's strongest man in WWE Hall of Famer
Deve Mark Henry. And in the afternoons, Craig Wiggs Show
is on from two to five because Craig still has

(39:34):
his own show too, So not only just the voice
of the Texas LOLd Horns, he is the voice of
radio in Austin, Texas as well.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Never slows down.

Speaker 5 (39:43):
Mike.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Thank you so much and looking forward to talking to
you on Saturday on your.

Speaker 9 (39:46):
Show, no doubt about it. I'm looking forward to you too.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Up thanks to Dowur number two with unforgettable guard Sean
Woods talking about the Blue White Basketball Game more than
just an exhibition for the players and our West MBO
chief Gary moorehead six thirty. Welcome back to the big

(41:57):
bone sider, joined now by our unforgettable guard shown Woods
usually on Wednesday, but gracious enough to slide things to Thursday.
Blue White coming up Friday night. Sean, did you enjoy that?
You told me how much you enjoyed madness. How about
the Blue White game? Did you enjoy that? As a player?

Speaker 5 (42:14):
Oh? Yeah, anytime when he got a chance to play
against the fans. And you know, I had something to
prove every every time, so I did. I had to
prove that I was better than whoever was trying to
take my position. So it was, it was, it was.
It was fun for us to play in front of
our home fans. And you know, I was fortunate because
I played with, you know, a few Kentucky guys that
had a lot of pride, you know, being from Kentucky bean,

(42:38):
you know, and and fulfilling the dreams of being in
Kentucky basketball player. And me too because even though I
didn't grow up in Kentucky, the whole side of my
mom's family's from here, grandmother and everybody, So you know,
it was always a big time to play in that situation,
and it was more intimate, and you you appreciated the
blue and white games because of the intimate and back then,

(43:01):
you know, we were going around the state playing blue
and white if you remember. So it wasn't just one,
it was a few of them, but they were all special,
and man, it was a gratifying experience. And I'm sure
these guys, hopefully they understand because of the way Mark
Prope is kind of, you know, pushing in their soul

(43:21):
about what it really is meant, what it really means
to be a Kentucky basketball player instead of just coming
here playing college basketball and trying to fulfill your dream
of making to the NBA. So you know, it's a
big deal and hopefully they appreciate it. But not only that,
it gives the fans an opportunity to watch an in
the squad scrimmage and watch these guys go against each
other and get their opinions on who they think is

(43:43):
better at each position.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Now, when you say intimate, for you guys, was that
because you were going around the state. You were playing
in front of people who might not get into up
arena in their lifetime. Yus, you're in a smaller arena.
I'm sure in some of those places, those gyms, those fans,
I know, for a fact, because I was at some
of them. They were right on top of you, weren't they.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
No doubt about it, man, no doubt about it. They're
playing them more. Seems like, you know, all those days
when we were having Midnight Madness in the Moore Coliseum.
You know, I missed that. I missed Midnight Madness. You know,
Big Blue Madness is okay, but it's not as special
and it doesn't mean as much to me as Midnight Madness.
You know, all the former players, older players that everybody

(44:25):
really missed and had a somewhat of a relationship with
until the new Aracane. That's what we did. It was
Midnight Madness, and it was televised all over the country,
and it just doesn't have that same flavor being interrupt
as it was as it did being in the coliseum.
For sure, I talked to anybody.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
I talked to somebody from UK when they made You
might recall this, Davey know you were actually gone by
now with coaching career. But they moved from the coliseum
to rupp Arena because they were doing a renovation, not
the big one, but a renovation of the Colisseum. And
I think Ashley Judd came out and said, oh, we
can't move, you know, and UK said no, no, we'll

(45:05):
be back at the coliseum as soon as we can. Well,
I knew that wasn't going to happen, but talking to
somebody in the UK, they said, how do we turn away?
You know the thousands of people who got in at
Rupp that could not get in at the coliseum. So
I do understand that, but I do get exactly right.

Speaker 5 (45:22):
But it takes the mistake away because you remember those
days people used to camp out and do all that
stuff in front of the coliseum. Nobody's camping out in Reperena. Yeah,
so you missed all that, you know, and Duke still
does that. You know, Carolina still does that. Kansas still
do that where their students can actually camp out. You know,

(45:42):
that's the tragedy, the pageantry and the history and tradition
of Kentucky basketball, the anticipation of waiting and camping out.
You know that that's big and that's part of the
UK experience being a student. And you take that away
and you you know, create this corporate situation. It's taken away.

(46:05):
This is just my opinion. It's taken away the passion,
the mystique and the tradition of what Kentucky basketball is
all about. You know, certain things don't have to be corporate.
Certain things can still stay traditional. And that's one of them.
And not only is it one of them in the
state of Kentucky, but it was view across the country.
And that's what make Kentucky's One of the things that

(46:27):
make Kentucky's special is watching students camp out well basketball
team well, and.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
You know they were anymore, they were camping out for
several years to get the opportunity to stand in the line.
Not exactly the same thing. I mean, it was. It
was all well and good if you liked that kind
of thing. But you're right. I used to room with
a guy who was one of those folks who stepped
on the sidewalk just to get into a UK game.
So yeah, but there are some folks who only know

(46:54):
the camp outs that it took just to get what
a lottery ticket or something like that to get in line.
And now they took that away this year. I don't
know if that'll ever come back. So anyway, I.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
Just think there's certain things need to stay the same,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
But you know, you're getting like me, man, You're getting
to be a crotch at the old man.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
And you've earned that right.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
You have earned that right exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
What what let me double back to the first thing
you said about the Blue White game, and I have
a feeling that every high caliber athlete feels the same way.
But you said you had something to prove every time.
What did you have to prove? And clearly you had
to prove it to Patino, to yourself. I can't remember

(47:40):
who was making a bid for minutes at point guard.

Speaker 5 (47:44):
Everybody yeah talking about is Riggie gonna play tonight? Is
Richie gonna start tonight? You know what I'm saying. They
wanted their homie to you know, but I had to
prove that. You know, I was the guy, you know
what I'm saying, And and every player that was their
opportunity to prove, you know what I'm saying, because we
were so competitive. The thing about this is everybody got to play,

(48:05):
and you know, nobody really harnessed the minutes because we
all had to play. But that was my opportunity and
everybody else's opportunity to show what they had you know
what I'm saying before the season started. So you know,
if you're not a competitor and you don't relish in
those situations, then you don't need to be a Kentucky anyway.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
I cannot believe as long as I have known you
and we did radio shows in the past, we've done
this for a while, I have never asked you this question.
How did the players feel about that? I know you
guys didn't tune in the call in shows, but maybe
some of you did, but you knew you just referred
to it is Richie going to play. How did you
guys take that? How did you feel about it?

Speaker 5 (48:45):
We made fun of it. It was funny to us,
you know what I'm saying. You know, and I never
heard it, perst see until I paid attention to Coach
Patina used to used to laugh about it all the time.
And you know, you know, I got family all in
the state of Kentucky, and they will listen to the
radio shows and especially the pregame shows because Patino's pregame show,
and there would be one person that would be would

(49:07):
that would say that every calling the show, of course
is Richie. Don't play to nine it's Richie. Don't start tonight,
it's Richie. It to Richie. And uh, he was your
good buddy, and that was my best friend, you know,
one of my best friends. So you know what I'm saying.
It was funny to me. Uh, but that lets you
know that you know how he was perceived, you know,

(49:28):
in the high school career that he had, especially being
from you know, the deep mountains of eastern Kentucky and we.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
All knew he could shoot it. But oh yeah, he
drove Patino nuts because he was a little bit out
of shape. According to Patino, probably a lot out of shape.
But he eventually got better, even got better at defense.
I don't know how much better, but he did that
in part sean playing against you every.

Speaker 5 (49:51):
Day, didn't he no doubt about it, you know. And uh,
you know that's what I was talking about last year.
You know, Richie Farmer to guard. You know what I'm saying,
Travis could guard a little bit. They didn't. They just
weren't bad defensive players, right, you know, they competed on
the defensive end, and you know last year, those guys
they didn't do that, you know what I'm saying. And

(50:14):
you know, you know, and you're supposed to be worthy
of playing with the University Kentucky. It's just you know,
I didn't, you know, and I'm a guard and I'm
a coach, and those guys, you know, they fool people.
Every It's a mystique. You know. Every kid now thinks
that they can play at Kentucky just because they're the

(50:34):
top player of high school players out of Kentucky. They
don't understand and realize how good Richie, Travis, John and
Darren were. Those guys were good, yeah, and they were
high major players. These kids now who think that just
because this kid played, or Reeve Shepherd, you know, played,
so I can do it. No, Reece Shepherd is an

(50:56):
exceptional basketball player. Reece Shepherd is getting to be a
fifteen year pro. There's there's a difference, and there's levels.
You know, just because you're the mister basketball, that don't
mean that that gives you worthy or or you you
you deserve to be to play at the University of Kentucky. No,
everybody can't play at the Universe of Kentucky just because
they were the top high school player in the state.

(51:18):
Because you're not playing against the state anymore. You plan
against the country and you know, the results that you
can bring and give that that that to our program
is not good enough. And that's okay, but you're not.
Everybody's not good enough just because you know, everybody thought
that they could play at Kentucky because of Darren John

(51:39):
Ritchety and and they were fools. Those Dudsers can play.
John Pelford can play. Sure, Darrin Fellhouse can play. Their
foul house average over twenty some points against you. Quille
O'Neal for a career for three years. You know, Richie
Farmer is probably one of the best shooters to ever
to ever wear the uniform. Yeah, you know, even though

(52:00):
he was out of shape, you know, he had to
change his mindset or how he you know, approached the game,
you know, because he wasn't you know, he wasn't a
guy that worked out all the time, and you know
basketball wasn't all all. But he was super talented. But
once he got himself in shape, shoot. You know, when
Richie got in the game, it wasn't a letof Richie
is gonna get you some points, yeah and make some buckets. Yeah,

(52:21):
he's gonna get a couple of steals out of the
press you know he's gonna he's gonna make an impact
in that game.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Had a game winner against All Miss I remember.

Speaker 5 (52:29):
That, right, and you didn't end. You didn't need when
when he came in to relieve me, he didn't need
Jamal Mashburn and to help him bring the ball of
the court eventually.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
Yeah, if you're right. Sean, the unforgettable guard joins us.
Every week we'll come back and talk more basketball with
a coach here on six thirty w l P. Welcome back.
We're talking with the unforgettable guard. Sean Woods. His jersey
hangs in the rafters orrupp. He is the head coach
at Scott County High School, Kentucky plays Texas Friday Friday
Saturday college football. You're a big football fan. We talked football.

(53:02):
Let me ask you a little bit, Sean, as a
guy who was a high profile player at a high
profile program, but just as a football fan, I don't
know how much you've had a chance to pay attention
to what's going on with Arch Manning and Texas football
on a national scale. You use the word deserve a
few minutes ago, and I know a lot of athletes

(53:23):
believe they deserve this and that I don't think arch
Manning is one of those guys. But as somebody who
played in that spotlight, and I know it probably wasn't
as bright on you as it was in arch Manning,
who's already been predicted or preseason to win the Heisman
and be a number one pick. But as a former
college athlete and a guy who's coached a lot of sports,

(53:45):
coached a lot of basketball, what do you think of
where a guy like arch Manning is now in this
day and age, with social media being what it is
and all the expectations that are heaped on a young
athlete before he's even started as first game.

Speaker 5 (54:01):
He comes from great stock, Okay, that bloodline hasn't missed.
Grandpaul was considered a big time quarterback. Both his uncles
are are are Hall of famers. Also, everybody that they've touched,
from uh Leon Sanderson to whoever is really good. Why

(54:28):
wouldn't you think this kid wouldn't be that, you know
what I'm saying. And you know when you going through
those camps, in those workhouts, and he's you know, he's
getting being compared to all the other top quarterbacks that
are coming out of his class. He's still at the top.
You know, sometimes you don't have the career that you
want to have at the school you go to right away.

(54:48):
You know, they could be personnel, it could be lying,
it could be you don't have the receivers that such
and such as. But the pros know and and and
they sometimes most time they don't miss. And I think
his best football is ahead of him.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 5 (55:04):
But that comes with the territory though, yeah, of being
of being a Manning.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Yeah, And to his credit, he warned people arch Manning.
Did I talk with a gentleman from an Austin radio
station about this. He said, I haven't done anything yet
preseason and football. I know you're a basketball guy, but
football is called the ultimate team game. You know, there's
twenty two guys on the field. But quarterbacks get too

(55:30):
much credit, too much blame, probably a lot like point guards.

Speaker 5 (55:32):
Right exactly, you know, And that's a whole nother deal
out there. And that's what I don't understand about football.
The quarterback is the only guy, you know, he's throwing
passes with. You know, maybe these guys can't get open,
maybe they can't catch. Maybe you know what I'm saying,
most times when quarterbacks have bad games, it's because they're
running for their lives more so, and when they quarterback.

(55:53):
I've never understood why if a quarterback gets sacked it's
his fault, right, I don't get that, you know what
I'm saying. Yep, you know you got some big old,
big old dudes coming after you. You running for your life,
and then you still got to make a pass with
somebody's guard that guard that receiver.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
You know who said that, though? Is interesting. I saw
a post on social media from somebody who played from
Mike Leach and the late Great Mike Leech used to
say sacks are the quarterback's fault. But the guy later
said I came to realize he didn't mean that literally.
But what that did was make him cognizant of a
line play of the receivers. You know, it's a group effort,

(56:33):
and it's a group effort when it comes to the
point guard.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
Isn't it exactly? You still got execution, you know what
I'm saying. Yeah, you know a quarterback, I mean a
point guard if he's not turning the ball over, you know,
just deliberately, but you know he can't. He's trying to
make every play, but the kids can't make the shot
that he made the place for or you know, that's
other that's four other guys. You know that that's not
you know, playing defense the way he's playing to start

(56:57):
the ball, you know, start to you know, because he's
guarding the other guy's point guard who starts the offense.
You know, everybody else is scoring, you know. So, but
at the end of the day, the team that has
the best, who's making the best, the most plays at
the end of the game on both ends of the court,

(57:18):
that's the team that's gonna win. And you know who's
just like in football, if that quarterback is having a
great game that day, and that team's gonna be hard
to beat, you know, and look at the Kansas City Chiefs.
Their job, that whole team's job, is to make sure
they give their quarterback an opportunity, a chance to win
at the end of the game. And that's exactly the

(57:39):
reason why they're as good as they are.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Before I let you go, I want you to just
not to give a nod to John Pelfrey and his
wife Tracy. She has been diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer.
John put out a statement on Twitter about the families
fight against a new opponent and asking for everybody's thoughts
and prayers. But I know how much John means to

(58:02):
you and how much family means to you. So I
know you're rooting like crazy for John and his entire family,
aren't you.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
I touched Tracy once a week, and I tell her
all the time that, you know, cancer picked the wrong
person to fight because she's a fighter man, and she's
one of the toughest women that I know that I've
known my whole life. I mean ever since I was
eighteen years old, and uh, you know, I pray, but

(58:34):
she I'm not worried about Tracy because I think Tracy's
going to beat this deal. Now John has to be
that that. You know, she's cheered for John since they're
in high school. Now John's got to be her her
biggest cheerleader, and uh, you know, it's funny how tables turn,
but you know, she's the unforgettable woman now and John's

(58:55):
got a cheer on and we all cheer her on,
and uh, you know, we're gonna in this fight with
her together. But I just feel I don't feel sorry
for Tracy. I feel sorry for cancer because you know
that cancer barked up the wrong tree. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Well, I appreciate it, and we'll keep folks up to
date on that. But John, of course, just like Sean
has his jersey hanging in the Raptors, one of only
thirty six players to have their.

Speaker 5 (59:20):
Jersey hanging in the Just make kids come down my
eyes because that means that means so much.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Yeah, I know how close you guys, I mean.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
For her to be going through this is you know,
it's it's you know, but God don't put nothing on
you you can't bear. And God knows that she can
bear this because she's she's a tough woman and it's
just unfortunate that she's got to go through this for
the next six seven months. Man, But she's gonna make
it through. And she's got a bunch of prayer awards

(59:50):
with her. Man. And like I said before, I don't
feel sorry to Tracy and John. I feel sorry for
cancer because he picked the wrong person to fight.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
Coach. Thanks, We'll talk to you next week, okay, Dick,
And on that know, we'll take a break come back
with our Western Bureau chief Gary Moore here on six
thirty Wlap Welcome back to the big bluin cider. And
joining us now as he does every week, is our
West End Bureau chief Gary Moore on the other end
of I sixty four in LA, the Louisville area, the

(01:00:20):
LA where he used to live. Thank god, it joined
us every week.

Speaker 10 (01:00:24):
Two crowded out there, man, Yeah, uh, you and me,
And we got a little segment hearing for those just
joining us for the first or second time. Two guys, yeah,
two guys in a six pack, got six things to
talk about, six swigs, as it were our first swig here.
Now we've all has to do with college football. Obviously,
we've all seen these ads, probably flipped them off like
I have during college football games, begging you to call

(01:00:47):
your congressman, save college sports. Pay no attention all those
buyouts like forty eight point six million to James Franklin
or the seven or eight others already already fired this year.
You got to save us from all these kids getting paid. Hey,
how about you administrators saving yourselves from yourselves? Okay, before

(01:01:07):
we had these ridiculous and fiscally irresponsible ten year or
lifetime contracts, you remember, the biggest buyouts were no more
than what twenty mili something like that. Looking said's still
a good chunk, yeah, and way less than what UK
would have to pay to have Mark join Franklin or
Mike Gundy or Sam Pittman or the five or seven

(01:01:30):
others I know have been fired. Stuart Mandel's got a great,
I mean a great column in The Athletic this week.
College football programs could spend two hundred million in buyouts,
So spare us the money. Moaning college administrators and boosters are.
They're trying to get this legislation passed to ultimately, yet

(01:01:50):
again limit what athletes can make, but no guardrails for coaches.
And until we stop the insanity of these six or
eight or ten year or lifetime guaranteed money contracts, Dick,
this is going to keep going on and on and on,
isn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
It is? And one of my questions is where did
the shoe companies come in here? Because there was one
tweet or I don't want to see a report, but
just basically saying that Adidas was.

Speaker 10 (01:02:16):
Involved orchestrating the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I'm going to pay for it, right, yeah, you know
now if that's true, Yeah, I want to see it
but you know, it's interesting to me, and I think
it might have been in that story because I did
read that Franklin's bayat by far wasn't even the biggest
Kirby smart this year. Oh yes, say, and they're not
going to do it. But if Georgia fired him one
hundred and one million, you know, and this is being

(01:02:40):
done Gary to appease the boosters, the fans, because when
Barnard signed Mark Stoops several years ago, and coincidentally or not,
that's when the tailspin began. He was as hot as
anybody in the country, and you got to protect yourself
against somebody poaching. He was going to go to A
and M anyway if he could. I wouldn't blame him.

(01:03:03):
But it's crazy. I just don't understand it.

Speaker 10 (01:03:08):
Uh, time out. I think your mike, are you using
your mi mic?

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Or yeah? Okay, not hearing it.

Speaker 10 (01:03:16):
Yeah, I'm hearing it. It just sounded like it was
a little lower than usual, that's all. Oh no, it's okay,
it ought to be okay, cool, never mind, all right,
get that out in post production?

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
Yeah you bet?

Speaker 10 (01:03:29):
Okay, our second swig as we talk about the B
word in these parts because of obviously UK football and Dick.
I'll say, if I for one hope that they don't
have to buy out Mark, I'd love for the Cats
to upset at least Texas and or that Knoxville school.
You give him a little breathing room here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (01:03:48):
But it's like you say, even if they don't, how
do you justify stoops is thirty seven point seven million.
I believe it is buyout, and that would be doing
a lump sum in sixty days if it's without cause.
How do you justify that when UK already has to
take out loans to cover the house settlement requirements, and
Mark's not gonna do the Caliperi thing and just sort
of walk away and not have to worry about getting

(01:04:10):
extra money out of this whole thing. Maybe the Cats
can catch Texas on an emotional drop off after the
horns big win over rival Oklahoma last week. Texas is
a twelve and a half point favorite Saturday night ESPN.
Of course you'll be down there for that before that
one though, Tomorrow night you of l at number two Miami.
That's a seven o'clock on ESPN. The Canes, by the way,

(01:04:31):
have yet to leave the state of Florida thirteen and
a half point favorite. If the cards o line is
as poor as it has been for most of the
season and the running game is non existent, Miami's gonna
win by more than thirteen, I will tell you now.
But if certain guys are healed up after the bye week,
and if Miller Moss can get the ball out fast, Dick,
we might have ourselves a game tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Yeah, but it's all gonna depend I think on how
well Miller Moss gets the ball out yep. Because this
is a Miami team that is real. I don't think
it's going to be and I don't think any team
ever will be as good as the one that featured
Michael Irvin and company. But I think this is a

(01:05:13):
legit Miami team, and if they can put the pressure
on Louisville's quarterback, I think they'll cover those two touchdowns.
And conversely, I think it's up to the QBS. Of course,
for Kentucky and Texas. If Cutter Bowley can match I
think the performance last week against Georgia, Kentucky's got a
shot puncher's chance, but that depends on how well Kentucky

(01:05:36):
handles arch Manning can they keep him from extending plays
with his legs and keep him from chucking the ball
down the field, which they love to do.

Speaker 10 (01:05:45):
Third twig and six pack Before I give you my
top four best games slash excuses for ignoring household chores
on Saturday, Just a reminder to make sure that you
do miss my alma mater, Western at LA Tech Tuesday
nine at seven point thirty on the CB Sports There. Well,
they don't deserve your eyeballs. Two nights ago, in Bowling
Green on ESPNU National Television, they heavily favored five and

(01:06:08):
one Toppers nineteenth in the nation passing offense versus Florida
International happens to be or did one hundred and twenty
sixth in pass defense. Toppers never scored a touchdown. A passionless,
inexplicable twenty five to six loss that some people were
tweeting and talking about on social media looked like they
were taking a dive. Remember when de Niro's character Jake

(01:06:30):
Lamonta took a dive in Raging Bully. It looked terrible.
That's what a lot of people thought. How could they
be this bad all of a sudden after looking pretty
decent at Delaware. All right, enough on that. Here are
teams that will play like they care. High noon Music
City number ten, LSU at number seven, Vandy. I like
Vandy in this one. Three point thirty three thirty number five,

(01:06:53):
Ole miss at number nine, Georgia. I'll take the dogs
at home seven thirty Saturday Night, number twenty, USC at
number thirteen, Notre Dame. I like the Trojans seven thirty. Also,
you got the number eleven Falls, number six Bama. The
Falls lose this, people start jumping in the Tennessee River
there because they cannot stand Georgia losing to Georgia and

(01:07:14):
BAM in the same year as almost too much for
a lot of these people. I'll take BAM in this game.
But before all of those, Dick, before all of those
Tomorrow night, Chapel Bill and the Tar Heels are traveling
four thousand, seven hundred and fifty two miles round trip
to Berkeley, California, ten point underdogs to cal in an
Atlantic Coast Conference game at a stadium where you can

(01:07:38):
actually see the Pacific Ocean because it's.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
Up on the hill.

Speaker 10 (01:07:42):
Why is this happening? Because school administrators are money whos.
That's why ten thirty tomorrow night, ESPM. Could this be
Bill's last last game?

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
You know, this takes me back to when the West
Coast teams began to migrate, and it started with UCLA
and USC, the two teams you covered when you were
out there working in radio, and people forget. And I'm
not saying this was the only solution, but I was
amazed when I read some of the backstory that those

(01:08:14):
two teams athletically were hemorrhaging money. I mean, they were
in terrible shape. That's why the talk of Caliperi going
to UCLA I kind of chuckled, because I knew they
couldn't afford.

Speaker 10 (01:08:25):
Him, right, That's why that's why Jim Valvano didn't go
exactly years and years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
And you don't think about that when you think about
schools like that with those profiles, But they're in a
market where those are as, you know, neighborhood schools. They're
not city schools. People in LA unless you went to
school there or lived in that neighborhood, you don't care.
You don't care about the Lakers and Dodgers, right, and
it ran pretty much yeah, yeah, so they're hemorrhaging money

(01:08:50):
and suddenly they get this golden crusted olive branch offered
by the Big Ten, which was making more money thanks
to its new TV network at the time, believe it
or not. In the sec once they left, well, the
dominoes began to fall to the point where it is
so ridiculous. Now, I didn't realize I've been to that

(01:09:11):
campus Berkeley. I didn't realize, or I've forgotten. You can
see the Pacific, but Stanford maybe, I don't think.

Speaker 10 (01:09:20):
So it's a little bit farther down in Palo Alta.
It's a little bit flatter and stuff, and there's some
mountains on the way. But you know where you up,
and you are in Berkeley, which is beautiful. If anybody's
never been to Berkeley, go just just for the sake.
It's a beautiful, beautiful campus.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Yeah, and I'll say I'll take cal Over, North Carolina
just for funzies.

Speaker 10 (01:09:36):
Yeah, I'm too. I like that one as well. Let's
go to our fourth swig. So we're gonna do some
NFL noise tonight, Dick moments away from us right here,
kick off up. I seventy five the four and one
Steelers five and a half point favorites over the fast
fading two and four Bungles. You got forty year old
Joe Flacko versus forty one year old Aaron Rodgers. That's

(01:09:57):
a combined five hundred and sixty seven in dog years
for those who don't want to do the multipa exactly.
So that's what's going on up there.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Sunday.

Speaker 10 (01:10:07):
Sunday, Hey, it's the last London game. I got a
buddy of mine, a guy that used to play football
with in Murray. His son is a trainer for Jacksonville,
so heven't family are over there. Last one at Whimbley
the Rams are favored over the Jags by three. Then
the other ones I think are interesting Eagles at the Vikings,
Colts at the Chargers, Washington at Dallas Washington. The Chargers

(01:10:28):
and Eagles all point and a half favorites. Sunday night,
you got the Falcons at the Niners. And also, by
the way, if your soccer fans, man United at Liverpool,
which is a huge rivalry. Monday, the best game of
the week. We got another doubleheader this Monday night, Dick.
The best game of the week is the first one,
the Bucks at the Lions. Lions five and a half
so far, and then after that one at about I

(01:10:52):
think eleven PM, the Texans at my Seahawks. Hawks are
favored by three and a half, and of course your
Packers should cruise at Arizona, right, yep.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
They should. Uh. Interesting that Mike Tomlin was whining about it,
and he doesn't seem like a whiner whining about the
fact that the Bengals signed Joe Flacco. Hey jobs to
win games, right, to compliment division, to compliment the Joe,
isn't it? Yeah? Yeah? And then they were desperate and
he acquitted himself well in the second half against my Packers.

Speaker 10 (01:11:20):
Yeah. You know, why can't you usually Browning in there?
We could rush him all night.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
And you know what, Joe Flacco's QBR numbers were virtually
the same as Brownings. And yet they made the move
and he looked a lot better.

Speaker 10 (01:11:35):
Maybe Joe was throwing. Maybe he didn't take a Super
Bowl ring off when he was throwing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
Some of those passes.

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
I wonder.

Speaker 10 (01:11:41):
Yeah, our fifth swig here in the six pack, celebrating
what I think is the best time of the year
in all of sports. Dick, all this going on this month.
Think about a college and Pro Football NBA officially beginning
on Tuesday, college hoops soon thereafter. I do not care
about the UFC on Ice AKA, but both the NLCS

(01:12:03):
and Alcs NBA, the Major League Baseball's Final four continuing tonight.
You got the well right now, the Dodgers and Brewers
Game three on. Dodgers up two games to zip. The
Brewers batting average is about the same as our dog
Blues weight point eight six coming into tonight's game in LA.
He's eighty four pounds for the record. And let's see,

(01:12:26):
we've got another game there at least tomorrow night in
Dodger Stadium, my former home away from home. Then the
later game, Game three of the Alcs at eight thirty Eastern.
Actually that's Game four, I believe, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:38):
Uh?

Speaker 10 (01:12:39):
That would be tonight in Toronto. In Seattle. Seattle's up
two to one over the Blue Jays. I would love
nothing more than a Dodger's Mariners Fall Classic. How do
you think is going to shake down? It's hard to
come back down two in the best of seven, as
both the Brewers and the Jays have been.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Yeah, only fourteen percent of teams that have been down
oh two have come back and won it, So I'm
with you. Uh would I thought I would love it
for the Mariners, And I love the Seattle's is a
great town. I have family up there. The Dodgers just
look unstoppable.

Speaker 10 (01:13:09):
You know, especially now they've got it. They finally got
everybody healthy. Yeah, they got pitching healthy, which is what
they wanted to do all summer long. Now when it matters,
they're there. And then you've got the guys. You know,
if Freddy, Freddy No Tani aren't really hitting, so if
those guys started coming around, then yeah, the murderer's row
is right there at you.

Speaker 5 (01:13:30):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:13:31):
Sixth wig. Three days ago, Dick tickets went on sale
for one of my all time favorite bands, Rush Geddy
and Alex said a new drummer getting back together a
tour next summer. And as expected, they are not cheap tickets,
and with all the service charges and everything. But but
the Dodger said, hey, those are prices. Huh hold our

(01:13:55):
thirty dollars stadium Michilatta here World Series tickets went on
presale the next day. On Tuesday, the cheapest seats potential
Dodgers World Series at Dodger Stadium eight hundred dollars plus
eighty one to ninety five in fees, and by that
it's an upper deck. Oh you want to sit down
in the field, Well those have all been All the
good seats have been snatched up with all these season
ticket holders. However, we could get you in somewhere between

(01:14:16):
the foul poles and the bullpens h fifteen hundred and
ten bucks per seat premier seats. The season tickets are holding.
Season ticket holders are holding and will sell, probably going
anywhere from five maybe even six figures, depending on how
many games there are at your local broker. We'll be
in charge of that, dick. When I covered the twenty
seventeen and twenty eighteen World Series games out there there

(01:14:38):
were bald spots Dodger Stadium every game, big clumps of
vacant seats, apparently held by scalpers who couldn't unload them.
As for the NLCS Game three, it's on right now,
you could have gotten in for one hundred bucks or less.
Michellaida is still thirty bucks, to which the Dodgers say, hey,
you want a World Series winner?

Speaker 5 (01:14:57):
Or what?

Speaker 10 (01:14:57):
Shut up?

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
Sorry, just got a text an answer. It's nuts. And
yet there are going to be people who pay. And
every time Gary, I turn on these games, I see
the people behind home plate and I wonder one of
two things, who do you know, right? Or what are
you worth? What are you paying for these seats?

Speaker 10 (01:15:21):
What do you do for?

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Yeah? Are any of these seats worth it? I can't imagine.
I can't imagine that they are. If you love baseball
that much, those.

Speaker 10 (01:15:31):
Seats behind behind the plate Dodger Stadium are somewhere in
the regular season tickets, Yeah, anywhere from twelve hundred eighteen
hundred dollars per seat.

Speaker 5 (01:15:43):
You know you?

Speaker 10 (01:15:44):
Yeah, it's even worse around the And when you watch
a Lakers game now you're talking three to five thousand
a seat on the court side.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
Unless you're Jack Nicholson's plus one, right, he is our
west End Beurea chief. Gary Moore will come back to
hot It's a minute here on six thirty wlap. Welcome back.
We have heard two guys in a six pack from
Gary Moore. Time to throw a couple of hot reads. Gary,
you love visiting the city of London, and not the
one in Laurel County, do respect, but the one across

(01:16:14):
the pond. Well, it says here, the British capital is
playing host to the Japan Sumo Association's first overseas trip
since a twenty thirteen tour to Jakarta, Indonesia, and the
first European exhibition of any kind in more than three
decades that came back in ninety five when they went

(01:16:35):
to France. They went to Austria. Aki Bono, who was
an American from Hawaii, was a superstar, And they're expecting
huge crowds and great, great interest in this sport in London.
Does that surprise you, or of all all the time
you spent over there, is this something you would expect?

Speaker 10 (01:16:55):
It doesn't surprise me. I think the most surprising thing
about it is where they're having it, at the place
where Queen Victoria had built in honor of her late husband,
at the Royal Albert Hall, which is housed you know,
the symphonies and great concerts and all sorts of fine
operatic and artistic musical things happening. But they've also had

(01:17:18):
a lot of sporting events there. I think McEnroe has
played some tennis there before. They've had all sorts of
other things there, so that was sort of kind of
fun to see, But no, you know, as big a
hit as American football is over there. All the games
sell out, including this one at Wimbley on Sunday, so
there's a lot of interest in there. London is such
a diverse area a city and the whole area around it,

(01:17:42):
so many people from all over the world live around there.
I think it's going to do pretty well.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
I agree, and they say that even the locals go
crazy over it, and sobody. When I was reading about it,
took this back to COVID when people had nothing to do. Yeah,
and they'd pull up broadcasts and there were old broadcasts
of sumo, and for some reason the fans got into it.

(01:18:06):
And now that it's coming to London, it's going to
be as big as these guys who make offensive linemen
look like slot receivers. Our second high reve for Gary's
Speaking of football two, A toungue of Belowa went before
the media yesterday and apologized for comments he made after
Sunday's loss to the Chargers when he criticized teammates for

(01:18:29):
being late to players only meetings. Billy I watched the
airshoot Gary. I watched that and I couldn't believe it.
As he was saying it. Now he's apologized, but I
ask you, how in the world did that happen in
the first place. This guy has played a lot of football.
He's been a quarterback for most of his life, and
he's an NFL veteran. And you just don't throw your

(01:18:52):
teammates under the bus, even if you're one in five.
In fact, if you're the quarterback, you go in the
hit a direction, don't you.

Speaker 10 (01:18:59):
Oh yeah, you say something without saying anything, as in, well,
there's some things we have to clean up and we'll
take care of that behind the doors. Next question done over,
he's I mean, how many press conferences or how many
times at Alabama and how many times in the NFL
has he gone through this? You know, as well as anybody,
how many you've probably forgotten how many locker rooms you've

(01:19:19):
been into or press conferences you've been into. When they
come right off the field, still high on emotions and
start speaking the truth and start saying stuff they're gonna
have to backtrack on the next day. And this was
one of those those instances. He was kind of speaking
saying the quiet part out loud.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
Yeah, but it wasn't right after a game. That's what
amazed me. Yeah, you had time to stew about it.
And also interesting he was talking about guys not showing
up to players only meetings, either late or not showing
up at all. And that tells you how many of
the Dolphins let go with a rope?

Speaker 5 (01:19:52):
Right?

Speaker 10 (01:19:54):
Yeah, let's they're one and five for a reason. And
you just saw some insight or heard some insight as
to like, oh, okay, that's what's going on. And it
reflects on McDaniel. It's not just to it reflects on
the coach as well. And then McDaniel didn't like it
for obvious reasons, you know, number one just saying it,
but also on the fact that he's not Maybe he's

(01:20:14):
lost the locker room, maybe he's just the discipline, isn't there.

Speaker 1 (01:20:18):
All the comments misguided made in an improper forum, but
those words are slipped out and there ain't no going back.
He is Gary Moore. He has our West End or
Chief Businessmans each and every week find him on Twitter at.

Speaker 10 (01:20:32):
At nine five five Gary n FM frequency you're at.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
I'm a big blum said, I'm never tell that's a
good weekend and that'll do it. Thanks to Gary, Thanks
to Mike Harges thanks to Sean Woods. That's a good
night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 11 (01:20:48):
It stop being such babies. You can't be afraid to
try new things. For instance, tonight I'm using a pooh
what do you call this thing again? A nepkin, outrageous.

Speaker 5 (01:21:00):
Sat out, such stake taking.

Speaker 1 (01:21:43):
Anything anything, any.

Speaker 5 (01:21:52):
Such cancut, such stata

Speaker 1 (01:22:22):
Tapetting the

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}2025-10-16 BBI

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

2025-10-16 BBI

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist